STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Ohio State already had experienced one colossal special teams failure Saturday night as the fake punt began to unfold. Nittany Lion Derek Day was leaking out into the open and Penn State punter Alex Butterworth wasn't punting.

Statistically, Butterworth is one of the worst punters in college football this season, but in this game he had pinned the Buckeyes deep more than once, as Ohio State dealt with lousy starting field position all night. Now, with the Buckeyes holding on to a four-point lead in the middle of the third quarter, Penn State coach Bill O'Brien wasn't content to play the field position game again.

"I just felt like at that point in time, we wanted to get something going," O'Brien said.

The fake was on. And Adam Griffin was ready.

The special teamer, cornerback and son of OSU's two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, sniffed out the play and broke up the pass, the Buckeyes seized the momentum and the field position to capitalize with a 10-play touchdown drive and Ohio State never looked back on the way to a 35-23 win.

"I think that was the turning point of the game," Urban Meyer said, glowing after his team pulled out a victory at what he had heard was the toughest place to play in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes thriving on what he called a gladiator mentality. "We saw it at the last second. [Assistant coach] Zach Smith does a nice job with that group. We had a block on and they showed it right at the last second. But we couldn't control it. The guy had to make a play, and Little Griff made a great play.

"Our average start of field position was awful today and to hand the ball to our offense at the 43, that was big."

Ohio State's 57-yard touchdown drive increased the lead to 21-10 late in the third quarter, and by the end, it looked like the No. 9 Buckeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) had controlled the game. Ohio State rushed for 234 yards, led by 134 from healthy quarterback Braxton Miller, and limited Penn State to just 36 rushing yards.

"That's awesome," senior defensive lineman John Simon said. "We challenged ourselves as a front seven that we really wanted to stop the run and make them one-dimensional, and I think we did a pretty good job. They stopped running the ball pretty early in the third quarter and we were able to pin our ears back and go."

When the Buckeyes did that, they sacked Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin four times, after he had been sacked just eight times in Penn State's first seven games. Linebacker Ryan Shazier also returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown to give the Buckeyes a 14-7 lead early in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the OSU offense started to roll, with Miller diving in on a shifty 1-yard run between defenders in the third quarter, then putting the game away with a perfectly-placed pass to Jake Stoneburner for a 72-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter.

"The guy was kind of behind me and the field was open in front of me and Braxton threw it just perfect, absolutely perfect," Stoneburner said. "He had the confidence in me to make the play and I'm just happy he threw it."

That was the game in the end. But it wasn't that kind of game when the fake was called. Special teams decided which way the momentum tipped more than once, with the Buckeyes, as usual, both succeeding and failing on special teams.

After a scoreless first quarter, Penn State (5-3, 3-1) scored the first points of the game on a punt block that saw Josh Hull crash untouched through the middle of the OSU line. He got to punter Ben Buchanan and teammate Michael Yancich got on the ball in the endzone for a 7-0 Nittany Lion lead. It was the third blocked punt the Buckeyes have given up this season, and Meyer expressed his frustration after the win.

Punt issues, though, then breathed life back into the Buckeyes. It wasn't anything as exciting as a block or a big return, and wasn't anything that Ohio State could plan for. It was just a penalty. A simple, rarely-called, game-changing defensive holding penalty.

As the Buckeyes punted from their own 27-yardline on fourth-and-8 after they were stopped on their first series after the punt block, Penn State was called for the hold before Buchanan even got the ball off his foot.

O'Brien was asked if he had received an explanation for the penalty call. "Uh, no," O'Brien said, obviously displeased.

Instead of giving up the ball, the Buckeyes kept it and then marched another 63 yards to tie the game at 7 with 34 seconds left in the first half.

"I know I was happy to get back out there. I'm sure the other guys were too. We wanted to get out there and redeem ourselves," right guard Marcus Hall said.

It was basically a seven-point penalty, and kept Penn State from getting the ball back, with a lead, and trying to really pin the Buckeyes to the wall.

"That was a big call," Meyer said. "You are talking about huge shifts in the momentum. When you go on the road, your defense better play, you have to take care o the ball and you'd better tough it out. We came out today and did that in a very tough environment against a very good team."

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